Late Friday, police were searching for a suspect and a motive in the murder of the 33-year-old former Schaumburg resident, who had recently moved to a home less than two miles from his restaurant.

"The only thing we're ruling out is robbery, because he was found with $1,800 in his pocket," said Grand-Central Area Cmdr. Philip Cline.

An autopsy scheduled for Saturday should give police a better idea of how Vicari was killed. The body was burned so badly, after being doused with a flammable liquid, that police do not even know whether the injuries to his head were from a beating or gunfire.

Vicari had opened the restaurant in the Norwood Park neighborhood about a year ago after moving it from Roselle. Fellow merchants in the stores and offices that line the block remembered the long hours Vicari, who had grown up in Italy, put into his business.

"Joe was just a regular, run-of-the-mill guy, a hard worker," said Gary Armstrong, owner of Armstrong Steel Doors, the business next to La Casa Del Caffe.

The restaurant had few daytime patrons but would fill up as the evening wore on and would often stay open all night, Armstrong said. When that happened, Vicari "would sleep there at night," Armstrong said.

Several video-poker machines were set up in the back, and police had raided a nearby restaurant for gambling two weeks ago, but there were no indications the death was tied to gambling, Cline said.

Vicari arrived at the restaurant about 11 p.m. Thursday and parked his red Pontiac in the spot where it was found Friday morning, the restaurant's two employees told police. It is not known whether any diners were in the restaurant when Vicari got there, but police believe he stayed in the restaurant until he was killed.

The back door was ajar and there were no signs of forced entry, leading police to believe Vicari might have known his killer. A front door was shattered, but fire officials speculated that was due to heat from the blaze.